Bank Stocks: Buy, Sell or Hold?

By Mark Gongloff

Bank stocks have got trouble. With a capital T, and that rhymes with B, and that stands for banks. Falling interest rates, a weak economy, congressional investigations. Bank chieftains are leaving tear stains on their bags of money. The XLF is down 11% since mid-February, leading the broader market lower.

Both the WSJ and the NY Times had big stories today about banks, saying their troubles aren’t over. To some, that sounds like a bell ringing at the bottom.

What about you? If you had money and/or bank stocks, what would you be doing right now? Feel free to discuss in the comments, too.

Comments (5 of 20)

VYFC is a small community bank @4.90 that ia a very good buy now. Lightly traded. Do not but at market
price but put a limit order in and you will have a good 2-3 year investment

9:05 am June 8, 2011

FG wrote :

Can anyone please advise on some community banks worth getting in to now? It seems like these smaller well run banks are also beaten up with the overall sector, but will recover much sooner?

7:26 pm June 6, 2011

E wrote :

Banks will probably fall another 10-20% before rallying near the end of the year. I would focus on buying an investment bank. The big four are screwed maybe forever.

7:01 pm June 6, 2011

wintoo wrote :

Hey folks, look, things are really not looking good for the banks and the economy. There are a million more middle class people like me that are sitting on realestate that are under valued (underwater) compared to what we owe on our mortgages . We're the ones that have been trying to suck it up and wait this crisis out. But how long can we wait? Values are still dropping all over the country. Against all my values..... I'm starting to think that the only smart thing to do is walk away and deal with the credit hit. My score is currently over 800. Now if I'm thinking this way, what are the other folks thinkling? Scary!!!!!!

5:36 pm June 6, 2011

Borneo wrote :

Many of the larger banks like JPM, USB, PNC and C are strong buys at this level. forward PE's are excellent. C's business is largely held outside of the US.
BAC and WFC still have huge residential real estate problems; and should be avoided.

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